Even during those short periods in four decades when he was out of power, Ali Abdullah Saleh bestrode Yemeni politics, holding together its diverse, extravagantly-armed factions and antagonistic communities with a blend of guile and coercion. There were triumphs – most notably reunification in 1990, as the ‘snake dancer’ sloughed off his Cold War skin in his and the Arab nationalist interest to create the United Republic of Yemen.
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